Photos: IFA through the years, a gadget evolution

Historic photos from the German electronics show take us on a tour of tech trends, including the first consumer VHS camera, early brick-sized cell phones, old-school video games, and even a few kitschy Euro booth babes.

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Booth babes 1.0

These historic photos, however, are a nostalgic reminder of how quickly future tech becomes obsolete--if not retro. Even the so-called booth babes have evolved (and yet also stayed the same, thanks in part to the return of 1980s fashions.)

IFA-Berlin dates back to 1926, originally organized as a radio exposition and then becoming a tool of the extreme right during World War II.

But this retrospective begins in the 1970s, when the show returned to Berlin and became an international affair, rather than a strictly German one. That was also around the time color TVs started to become more prevalent.

Here's a photo welcoming attendees to IFA-Berlin in 1973. Note the show logo (left), which is still used today.

Nokia GSM phone

In 1993, as the show's focus turned more to cell phones and digital media, Nokia presented one of its first GSM mobile phones, the Nokia 1011.

And if you're wondering what Robert Redford did that year to
make the cover of that German magazine,
IMDB tells us he starred in "Indecent Proposal," which won a Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen)
award in Germany.